Crispy “gluten free” pie crust (with NO flour AT ALL)

We’re living the “low carb” era and poor little gluten is the big bad guy of our time, so, I won’t deny that once you scream #glutenfree you get lots of sparkling eyes from all those fitness diva-wannabes. Well, that’s not me. I don’t pretend to be a fitness diva (I could be a diva… but not a fitness one lol), nor do I advocate for low carb or any other kind of unnecessary restriction. That’s not me, but I understand that everyone knows what’s best for them, right?

If you’re into low carb, if you’re lactose intolerant, if you’re celiac, if you wish to cut (or reduce) gluten for whatever reason, or if you’re just curious like me and dig something new, this flourless pie crust is made for you. Oh, and that’s how I roll when I say it’s a recipe that uses NO flour, I mean, literally, NO FLOUR! AT ALL! Don’t get me started with cassava flour, almond flour, oat flour, rice flour, or any other kind of flour. Please, pretty pretty please, I have nothing against those yummy flours, but if it’s flourLESS, it’s flourLESS.

If you’re into low carb, if you’re lactose intolerant, if you’re celiac, if you wish to cut (or reduce) gluten for whatever reason, or if you’re just curious like me and dig something new, this flourless pie crust is made for you.

Oh, and it’s also vegan, flourless, gluten free, low carb, no eggs, lactose free… It’s that kind of to go pie crust that you’ll always want to have in your fridge for a quick lunch or snack.

Ok, it doesn’t take flour, but it has to be made of something, right? It’s not a make believe crust. So… the base of this crust is leguminous. Yes, leguminous, meaning, the beans that grow in pods. The leguminous are rich in proteins and the big plus is that they’re made of complex carbohydrates (I said it was low carb and not zero carb) send sugar slowly to the bloodstream, allowing it to be metabolized instead of transforming into fat.

For the crust we’ll use beans (I do white beans, to be more specific) or chickpeas. They both work out great. I’ve never tried with other kinds of beans, but if you want to give it a shot, let me know. I find the white beans taste t be more subtile, while the chickpeas is more pronounced.

The only ‘if’ of this recipe is that I have to decide to make it a few hours ahead because the leguminous need to be “soaked”. When you leave the beans soaking for 8 or 12 hours you make them easily digested and you increase considerably its nutricional benefits. However, in this case, that’s not the only reason why we’re leaving them immersed in water for a few hours. We’re using the beans raw, and for that we need them to be hydrated and soft.

Ingredients:

150g white beans or chickpeas (uncooked)

2 small garlic cloves (or one medium)

1/4 of an onion (any kind of onion – I do yellow)

1/4 cup of parsley

1 teaspoon of cumin

salt and pepper to taste

5 tablespoons of water (or more if necessary)

How to

Soak the beans overnight (or leave them soaking in the morning if you want to make the pie in the evening). The ideal is to use two parts of water for 1 part of beans. Use a big bowl for they will be twice or trice as big after soaking.

Pre-heat the oven to 220°C (428°F) and let’s get this crust ready.

Drain the beans and throw this water away. Put the soaked beans in a food processor (if you don’t have one you can use a hand mixer or a blender) with the water, garlic, onion and all the seasonings and beat until you get a thick paste (like the one in the picture above). In case you feel it’s still way too floury you can add more water, but be careful. You don’t want it to be a cream. (If that happens, add olive oil and you have yourself some different raw hummus). We’re looking for a thick dough, almost like a quiche crust one.

Place a piece of parchment in a false bottom baking pan you can and spread the dough on the bottom and up the side making sure there ir room for the filling. See picture below for illustration. If you don’t have a false bottom baking pan, you can use a cake pan. And if you don’t have a cake pan just spread some olive oil on it (or your fat of preference) on an oven-safe tray. It may be harder to unmount, but it’ll be just as good… who cares?

raw crust

baked crust

Other suggestion is that you can bake it on cupcake forms and make mini pies.

It’ll be ready in about 20 minutes (you want it to be golden brown). Take the crust out of the oven and it’s ready to be filled as you wish. You can make a cheese mixture. Use veggies leftovers. Palm heart, tomato, eggplant, spinach, ham and cheese… Be creative!

Pie made from white bean crust filled with palm heart

The baked crust lasts about 3 days in the fridge; and the unbaked dough lasts about a week. You can also double the recipe and freeze it for a rescue meal.

[…] great with bread, or you can have it as a side dish for grilled chicken or fish. I use it to top that crusty flourless pie we already made here. My favorite way of having it it, of course, with baked falafel and feta […]